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Sunday, 3 May 2015

#BEDM- Twentea Something visits Beatons, Chester

I feel like I've made it in the tea blogging world.. if that's a thing. To celebrate the launch of brand new tea shop Beatons in Chester I was invited to a blogger's high tea hosted by House Poet & Director of Engagement, for Beatons, Liz Darcy-Jones. Yes.. excuse me for name dropping but the lovely Liz is Britain's tea poet! How fab is that!

Beatons, named after the photographer and artist Cecil Beaton encompasses three tea rooms in Wiltshire, Blandford Forum and now it's first franchise on Bell Tower Walk in Chester. The lovely new tea room overlooks the cathedral and also includes a bookshop full of local authors and interesting reads. Sound idyllic right?

I was invited to visit on the first Saturday they were open for a blogger's afternoon tea as part of the opening celebrations and got to meet lovely local blogger Tamsin Rebecca. We were treated to afternoon tea of sandwiches, cakes and scones complete with Chester's very own tea: "Dong Ding" as well as some tea poetry from Liz's book (psst. Liz is about to release a new book so if you want a copy of "Distinguished Leaves: Poem for Tea Lovers" i'd get in quick.. they'll be very rare soon!). The best bit about tea with Liz was her knowledge of tea... for the record, she believes milk should go in first (but we're allowed to disagree!)

Beatons also has a selection of Italian soda: cool soda mixed with natural fruit syrup. I tried the rose which was lovely and refreshing but I think I'll stick with the tea in future- or try a different flavour!

As expected in opening week, the service was a bit slow as they found their feet- but we were kept entertained by poetry readings, answering our tea FAQs and happily chatting away and the lovely Liz emailed later to apologise for the delay- which was a lovely touch!

The whole look of Beatons is very girly and homely. It makes me want to spend time curled up with a pot of tea and good book for hours on end there. The staff were all welcoming and apart from a few teething problems the service was excellent. This definitely won't be my only visit especially as the breakfast menu looks amazing!

Oh and I have to mention the toilets.. I didn't take any photos but check out my friend Adam & Sarah's Blog Four for the Road for an insight. I swear I'm going to start a segment of my blog based on the best toilets in Chester. How do you take your tea?p.s. I visited again yesterday and although the boy serving us was obviously new and nervous and there was a kitchen related incident which slowed the service down it was some of the best scrambled eggs I've ever had!